Dan
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Boss
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Post by Dan on Jan 10, 2010 19:32:34 GMT
This is a post i've been meaning to write for a while, but does anyone else feel entirely detatched with the Panthers? There was a time when i was one of the most committed fans going and the mere thought of missing a home game was alien to me. Nowadays i find myself making less home games a season than i used to make away. I'll be there for the play-offs, but it's more for the weekend's drinking than the actual games.
Don't get me wrong, it's nice to come home and see some live hockey in a clean and comfortable arena but the games are less entertaining, the teams less skilled, and the atmosphere is as flat as i have experienced anywhere. It's just so much less of an event nowadays than it used to be. Is this just me growing up and romanticising the past or has anyone else noticed?
I remember once being shocked that Shinobi said he was 5x more a Leafs fan than a Panther fan. 5 years or so later, i can see exactly what he was talking about. Nowadays....it's all so.....meh. The EIHL is an incredibly badly run league with no future, no real organisation or long-term plan in place. I mean, there's not even a published rule book. How can a league go forward when nobody really knows what they can or can't do?
In a closer-to-home sense, the Panthers continue to be the biggest team in the country but continue to find ways to beat themselves in the title race every year. We go through a steady stream of new coaches who will all definitely bring the glory times back, but sack the only one who came close to achieving this.
The only remaining premier game of the season has lost all intensity and only continues to be considered as such thanks to the motormouth Moran. He's doing his best, bless him.
I just find it so hard to get really interested any more. This game has so much potential that it's painful to see it frittered away and see teams come and go with such regularity...
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Rich
Paul Adey
Go hard or go home
Posts: 6,691
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Post by Rich on Jan 10, 2010 19:38:21 GMT
This is a post i've been meaning to write for a while, but does anyone else feel entirely detatched with the Panthers? There was a time when i was one of the most committed fans going and the mere thought of missing a home game was alien to me. Nowadays i find myself making less home games a season than i used to make away. I'll be there for the play-offs, but it's more for the weekend's drinking than the actual games. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to come home and see some live hockey in a clean and comfortable arena but the games are less entertaining, the teams less skilled, and the atmosphere is as flat as i have experienced anywhere. It's just so much less of an event nowadays than it used to be. Is this just me growing up and romanticising the past or has anyone else noticed? I remember once being shocked that Shinobi said he was 5x more a Leafs fan than a Panther fan. 5 years or so later, i can see exactly what he was talking about. Nowadays....it's all so.....meh. The EIHL is an incredibly badly run league with no future, no real organisation or long-term plan in place. I mean, there's not even a published rule book. How can a league go forward when nobody really knows what they can or can't do? In a closer-to-home sense, the Panthers continue to be the biggest team in the country but continue to find ways to beat themselves in the title race every year. We go through a steady stream of new coaches who will all definitely bring the glory times back, but sack the only one who came close to achieving this. The only remaining premier game of the season has lost all intensity and only continues to be considered as such thanks to the motormouth Moran. He's doing his best, bless him. I just find it so hard to get really interested any more. This game has so much potential that it's painful to see it frittered away and see teams come and go with such regularity... Agree 100%. I think we arnt alone judging by the amount of old faces you no longer see around the arena. I could change my tone slightly if we get 5 goals in the third tonight though!  |
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lee
David Clarke
Posts: 3,712
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Post by lee on Jan 10, 2010 19:44:31 GMT
as well as changes in the product, i think the novelty of anything wears off.
your first season is awesome,
2nd is good,
3rd is alright
4th is meh and the rest follows. you just get used to going to games and spend to much time remembering the so called "good old days"
much like you say the thought of missing a game in my first two seasons was like someone had stolen my favourite toy when i was a kid, now i'm just not that bothered.
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Post by Spooks on Jan 10, 2010 19:49:22 GMT
Same here hardly ever bother going down now. Even the play-offs are damp squid. Way to expensive with the best game now being the England-Scotland game.
Its just as you put it meh.
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Rich
Paul Adey
Go hard or go home
Posts: 6,691
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Post by Rich on Jan 10, 2010 19:54:02 GMT
as well as changes in the product, i think the novelty of anything wears off. your first season is awesome, 2nd is good, 3rd is alright 4th is meh and the rest follows. you just get used to going to games and spend to much time remembering the so called "good old days" much like you say the thought of missing a game in my first two seasons was like someone had stolen my favourite toy when i was a kid, now i'm just not that bothered. I guess it took me 15 years to get to the 4th equivalent season then. I think you have a point with a lot of people, but I didnt take intrest until Id been to a few games, now Iv been going 15 years as I said, playing 14 and coaching 6 so I dont think its all that. Newham has been going a number of years too. Now I just go out of habit, and because I like to see friends and dont want to miss the opportunity of something happening. I like to watch games to apply what I have been learning as a coach but can watch much better NHL games for free! |
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Dan
Forum Admin
Boss
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Post by Dan on Jan 10, 2010 20:02:49 GMT
Aye, i was really, really into it for a good ten years or so. The last four or five however have just drained me.
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Post by buster on Jan 10, 2010 20:03:10 GMT
i know what you mean, maybe it comes with familiarity, but after a few seasons the game has lost alot of excitement.
aaah, lee looks like he has summed up perfectly what i am trying to say.
ive only missed 3 or 4 home games this season. but i turn out, out of habit and the chance there might be something entertaining that happens, regardless of predicting a defeat or a boring game.
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Post by buster on Jan 10, 2010 20:04:19 GMT
as well as changes in the product, i think the novelty of anything wears off. your first season is awesome, 2nd is good, 3rd is alright 4th is meh and the rest follows. you just get used to going to games and spend to much time remembering the so called "good old days" much like you say the thought of missing a game in my first two seasons was like someone had stolen my favourite toy when i was a kid, now i'm just not that bothered. I guess it took me 15 years to get to the 4th equivalent season then. I think you have a point with a lot of people, but I didnt take intrest until Id been to a few games, now Iv been going 15 years as I said, playing 14 and coaching 6 so I dont think its all that. Newham has been going a number of years too. Now I just go out of habit, and because I like to see friends and dont want to miss the opportunity of something happening. I like to watch games to apply what I have been learning as a coach but can watch much better NHL games for free! oh snap! |
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Rich
Paul Adey
Go hard or go home
Posts: 6,691
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Post by Rich on Jan 10, 2010 20:08:44 GMT
I could change my tone slightly if we get 5 goals in the third tonight though! LOL |
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Higgy
Les Strongman
Posts: 5,292
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Post by Higgy on Jan 10, 2010 20:15:57 GMT
I could change my tone slightly if we get 5 goals in the third tonight though! LOL Now that is spooky lol I have found myself being incredibly bored with the games recently..i just cant seem to get excited at the moment,its just the same teams every other week,the same crappy match night presentation and the same boring chants. |
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Jovanovski
Pat Casey
On extended leave for abuse of officials
100%
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. ~
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Post by Jovanovski on Jan 10, 2010 20:52:26 GMT
Rich can I have the lottery numbers for wednesday!
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Post by KimThePanther on Jan 10, 2010 21:00:20 GMT
I think interest comes and goes.
When my daughter and eldest son were very young I still went to games but not nearly as often as I'd used to before. My priorities changed and suddenly being a dedicated fan didn't have the same appeal that it did. Spending time with and ensuring my kids were OK was what mattered, not the hockey result. I was also pretty disillousioned with our 2002/03 team which probably didn't help.
Then I took my nephew to a game in 2005 and I think I've missed about 3 homes games since. I've starting taking my eldest two as well now and their own enthusiasm for hockey has helped to restore mine.
Panthers have been lucky though - I started going to Notts less and less after my children were born and I rarely go at all these days.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2010 21:02:09 GMT
This is a post i've been meaning to write for a while, but does anyone else feel entirely detatched with the Panthers? There was a time when i was one of the most committed fans going and the mere thought of missing a home game was alien to me. Nowadays i find myself making less home games a season than i used to make away. I'll be there for the play-offs, but it's more for the weekend's drinking than the actual games. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to come home and see some live hockey in a clean and comfortable arena but the games are less entertaining, the teams less skilled, and the atmosphere is as flat as i have experienced anywhere. It's just so much less of an event nowadays than it used to be. Is this just me growing up and romanticising the past or has anyone else noticed? I remember once being shocked that Shinobi said he was 5x more a Leafs fan than a Panther fan. 5 years or so later, i can see exactly what he was talking about. Nowadays....it's all so.....meh. The EIHL is an incredibly badly run league with no future, no real organisation or long-term plan in place. I mean, there's not even a published rule book. How can a league go forward when nobody really knows what they can or can't do? In a closer-to-home sense, the Panthers continue to be the biggest team in the country but continue to find ways to beat themselves in the title race every year. We go through a steady stream of new coaches who will all definitely bring the glory times back, but sack the only one who came close to achieving this. The only remaining premier game of the season has lost all intensity and only continues to be considered as such thanks to the motormouth Moran. He's doing his best, bless him. I just find it so hard to get really interested any more. This game has so much potential that it's painful to see it frittered away and see teams come and go with such regularity... pretty much agree with everything there, ehnce why i go less and less. Don t even look forward to going now like i once did. £75 for a weekend of hockey in this league is obsurd, taking into account the standard of it |
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Post by Alf Garnett on Jan 10, 2010 21:03:17 GMT
Panthers have been lucky though - I started going to Notts less and less after my children were born and I rarely go at all these days. Let's be honest though Kim, £20 to watch Notts is poor value compared to £14 for the Panthers. |
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David
Forum Moderator 
Posts: 1,308
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Post by David on Jan 10, 2010 21:13:36 GMT
I want to go more but I can't get any of my friends interested in going. I dont want to be a loner sat on my own.  I did used to go a lot more. I do wish the league was a bit more consistent and more secure. I don't like it when there's always doubt over other teams' future. The sport does have a lot of potential here. I'm more like Shin, more a fan of the leafs. I don't have my own car either, and I live in Newark. The busses/trains back are a bit poor. |
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Post by buster on Jan 10, 2010 21:27:44 GMT
I want to go more but I can't get any of my friends interested in going. I dont want to be a loner sat on my own. I did used to go a lot more. I do wish the league was a bit more consistent and more secure. I don't like it when there's always doubt over other teams' future. The sport does have a lot of potential here. I'm more like Shin, more a fan of the leafs. I don't have my own car either, and I live in Newark. The busses/trains back are a bit poor. i'be your friend, but i dont know you well enough for a sleep over. |
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Yotes
Forum Admin
Posts: 16,405
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Post by Yotes on Jan 10, 2010 21:32:45 GMT
I think interest comes and goes. I hope so, I'm finding myself increasingly bored with them. I think it's a combination of the grating match night presentation at the NIC, which winds me up more than motivates me to cheer and has become ridiculously dated, and the fact that, with a couple of exceptions, I don't really care about this year's team. That's more worrying to me. Last night I was hoping Meyers or Clarke (or both) would drop the gloves and get a good hiding, that can't be right. Missing my first home game of the season next weekend, and I couldn't care less really. Watching a crappy internet stream from Arizona hooks me in much more at the moment than a live game with my home town team  Hope that all changes next year, not really holding my breath though. |
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David
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Post by David on Jan 10, 2010 21:42:14 GMT
I want to go more but I can't get any of my friends interested in going. I dont want to be a loner sat on my own. I did used to go a lot more. I do wish the league was a bit more consistent and more secure. I don't like it when there's always doubt over other teams' future. The sport does have a lot of potential here. I'm more like Shin, more a fan of the leafs. I don't have my own car either, and I live in Newark. The busses/trains back are a bit poor. i'be your friend, but i dont know you well enough for a sleep over. I should be ok, I think. Thanks though. |
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Post by pantherman66 on Jan 10, 2010 22:01:07 GMT
Finally a thread that explains all the negative posts on here.
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Post by pantherinmanc on Jan 10, 2010 22:16:02 GMT
Personally I still have passion in my heart and fire in my belly where Panthers are concerned although a lot of that is quite heavily linked to being immensely proud of where I'm from - something which grows, I think, the more time you spend living somewhere else. I do understand the points in the original post though. At times yesterday, sat in a stale NIC, losing 2-0, our coach not being able to pass to save his life and an outstanding hockey player stood on our bench in a suit, you do start to question.
Sure there is more to life, getting to fired up is not always advisable (I should take that advice myself sometimes) but hockey is sport i didn't grow up with, it's something that's grown on me. Compare that to football, something i'd say is 'in my blood' a result of where I am, the country I grew up in. For all that is not right with Panthers, and there is a lot, it's still something i'm not looking forward to turning my back on as I'm less than 18 months away from embarking on a new life in Toronto; the passion inside won't ever burn quite so strongly for the Leafs simply because it's not 'my team' in the same way Panthers are, Nottingham is part of who I am.
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andyd
Ken Westman
THE logo!
Posts: 2,719
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Post by andyd on Jan 10, 2010 22:22:45 GMT
Haven't posted in a while, rarely on the forum honestly, but here's a thread that peaked my interest.
I agree completely with people's feelings, I myself have long since stopped going regularly. Two reasons:
1) I just don't care about the team, I have no attachment.
2) I've got used to watching better hockey when living in America and now the EIHL doesn't cut it for me.
When I first started going I was captivated, I loved the team, I associated with the players (Hunt, Trickett, O'Connor, Butler, Adey, Lambert, Waghorn, Tait, Premak, etc), players who associated themselves with the team, we had a club built around longstanding names. No more. Players aren't playing for THEIR club like they once were, they'll play where they get the most money and then swan off after a year to the place that will pay them even more. How can I care when there's no passion?
Then I went and lived in America and watched CCHA College Hockey every week and got to love the Miami Redhawks and their players playing for THEIR team, THEIR college, THEIR future, everything I once loved about Panthers. The quality was so much higher, the passion and intensity and the EIHL just looked tired and dull to me when I returned. So much so that if I had to choose between the Panthers winning the league and the Redhawks winning a National Championship I'd probably choose the latter.
Living in Birmingham I would never miss a Coventry away game and I've been once the last two seasons.
I look out for the results, I'm still a Panthers fan, just a very disillusioned one. It's sad to me the British hockey has let its success slip through its fingers to the extent that fans like me just don't have the interest anymore...what makes it worse is that I have no idea what I'd suggest to them to get it back. Sad times.
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Milkman™
Les Strongman
Always Delivers
Posts: 5,300
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Post by Milkman™ on Jan 10, 2010 22:30:49 GMT
I look out for the results, I'm still a Panthers fan, just a very disillusioned one. It's sad to me the British hockey has let its success slip through its fingers to the extent that fans like me just don't have the interest anymore...what makes it worse is that I have no idea what I'd suggest to them to get it back. Sad times. +1 mate In 4 seasons I missed 4 games, I went 2 seasons not missing a single game home or away. What went wrong, well to be honest my ambition was greater than theirs, quite literally. My only regret is that I saw 1 trophy in 6 years. |
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Post by Mark Mac on Jan 10, 2010 22:49:40 GMT
I'm not quite sure at the moment if I count as disillusioned. I've not been to as many games as I used to, but then that's because I'm training to be a teacher at the moment and life is incredibly busy so it is literally difficult to find time to go. However, when I have been able to go the excitement that I used to feel doesn't seem to be there. Now this could be because I've got more important things to focus on at the moment, but this could also be because I am getting frustrated at the coaching at the moment. I won't repeat my larger post in the Hull game thread, but I'm getting annoyed at Corey (and Bruce) not dealing with our consistenly poor Defence.
So I might and I might not count as disillusioned. I am looking forward to the Playoffs, but again that's partly because it's a tradition for me and my mate to go to the Playoffs and drink lots of beer. Not sure if it's hockey that is the attraction there. Humm...
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Jovanovski
Pat Casey
On extended leave for abuse of officials
100%
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. ~
Posts: 303
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Post by Jovanovski on Jan 10, 2010 23:22:55 GMT
I think some of it is when you go away for a while from any sport the people you used to talk to are either not there any more, or they have different sets of friends now.
I also think that when you are away for a while nostalgia creeps in and it is only the good things you recall, then when you come back you want the present day experience to be as good as your rosy but maybe inaccurate memories of the past.
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Milkman™
Les Strongman
Always Delivers
Posts: 5,300
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Post by Milkman™ on Jan 10, 2010 23:30:45 GMT
I think some of it is when you go away for a while from any sport the people you used to talk to are either not there any more, or they have different sets of friends now. I also think that when you are away for a while nostalgia creeps in and it is only the good things you recall, then when you come back you want the present day experience to be as good as your rosy but maybe inaccurate memories of the past. Thing is Phil there is nothing Rosy about been a Panthers fan through 90's The social was fantastic, the hockey poor |
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I did used to go a lot more. I do wish the league was a bit more consistent and more secure. I don't like it when there's always doubt over other teams' future. The sport does have a lot of potential here. I'm more like Shin, more a fan of the leafs.
